Utilizing gain and loss message framing for consumers: A Machiavellian perspective

Marketers are looking to understand consumers better as they obtain more buying power. We examine the roles of message framing and its interaction with the Machiavellianism personality trait on attitudes toward the store advertisement and intention to recommend the store. Based on two studies, we find that gain-framed messages result in significantly higher attitude levels towards the store advertisement and intention to recommend. We also find a significant interaction effect of message framing and Machiavellianism on consumer attitudes toward the store advertisement and intention to recommend the store. Marketers can focus on message-framing strategies to improve attitudes toward store advertisements and intentions to recommend when achieving goals set by their organization. In our second study, we replicate the main effects, but the interaction effect reverses direction for Gen Z consumers, suggesting there may be times to use different message-framing strategies.